TLIAD: The Limpid Stream
- Thread starter Lord Roem
- Start date
1946-1951: Leon Trotsky (Progress)
The former revolutionary who restored democracy
Only six years prior to his assumption of the Directorate - Leon Trotsky had been sunning himself in his Cuban exile. “I am done with the Viper’s Nest” he wrote in a letter to the Third International’s Chairman, Karl Korsch, “it is little more than a Bonapartist Bureaucracy masquerading as a Popular Front.”
Yet, less than seven weeks after penning those words - Trotsky arrived at Kronstadt to full military honours. His return to Russia shocked the revolutionary and reactionary world - why had Trotsky, the arch-ideologue, accepted Wrangel’s invitation to return as part of the “Unity Movement for the Preservation of National Integrity”? Many of his friends and colleagues assumed that he had taken leave of his senses, some unkind whispers seemed to assume that he was so bored by the tedium of his self-imposed house arrest that he simply wanted to be killed in an interesting fashion. Yet, within weeks of his arrival, Trotsky found himself sitting three seats away from the Director as “Minister for Supply.”
Wrangel’s offer of amnesty, of which Trotsky served merely as the most high-profile returnee, has been debated widely over the years. At the time, it was simply seen as a rare moment of panic by the Director to win western approval following the defeat of the Army of the Trans-Amur at the Battle of Blagoveshchensk. Since then, the “April Thaw” has gone through a number of appraisals, although the current consensus has tended to focus on the always-paranoid Wrangel’s desire to reduce the chances of foreign governments establishing a government-in-exile around the increasingly social democratic-minded Trotsky. Certainly, had the old Menshevik not moderated his political stances after the failure of the left-wing to mount a coup in 1917, it is quite possible that Wrangel may have simply left him to die abroad, as so many of the survivors of the May Crisis did. However, the transformation of the war effort in the following months, of which Trotsky’s superb management and organisational capabilities deserve full credit, did much to shore up the government’s position, aided even more so when the Turkestan Republic switched sides several weeks later.
Nevertheless, when Wrangel eventually passed away on the 4th January 1946 - few people expected the then-Minister for Public Works to assume the Directorship. Although he had explicitly renounced his earlier positions on Orthodox Marxism in “Considerations on the Failure of the Revolution” - the more conservative figures in the Supreme Council mistrusted him. Anton Denikin, the Minister for Population Control and Minorities, was especially clear in his opposition to the man. Although his latent anti-Semitism may well have clouded his judgement, Denikin spoke for many when he criticised the newcomer as “Suchiy Potrokh.” Within hours of Wrangel’s death, Denikin’s allies within the Ministry of Information were dusting off the old Black Hundred leaflets and inserting various exaggerations about Trotsky’s heritage. Hours later, the Betushkas were bombarding the Ministry Complex.
There, history may have taken a rather different turn, had Trotsky not taken the liberty of leaving his office for the relative security of the Duma. Although Russia’s parliament had served to be little more than a rubber stamp during the Great Centralisation a decade prior, it was still a masterstroke by the old propagandist. Within minutes of his arrival at the Tauride Palace - the decrepit cogs of parliamentary sovereignty had begun whirring into life once again. A vote was hastily arranged by the left and centre-right of the National Union, whilst the Rightist delegates found themselves being shut out of their own offices. Despite the fact that Trotsky was far from popular amongst his Ministerial Colleagues, the bolshy and overbearing Denikin was even less so, and a narrow majority of the Council voted to expel him from office.
For a while, it appeared that the Russian state was once again on the verge of Civil War. However, Denikin’s flight to Petrograd and his subsequent announcement for the restoration of the monarchy (which came as a surprise to the Grand Duke Vladimir, who was at the time breakfasting with the Danish Crown Prince in Copenhagen) did not endear him to the broadly left-leaning citizenry, who promptly laughed him back towards the aerodrome. Beset by a collapsing coalition, deserting troops and national humiliation, the Hero of Yekaterinburg shot himself shortly before midday on the 11th January.
Trotsky, who now found himself as the leader of the Duma’s embryonic liberal wing, if little else, was now in a position where he was expected to assume the Directorship. Yet, once again, the old bête noire of the establishment still had the ability to surprise. Two day later, Trotsky announced the formation of a ‘Troika’, with himself as Prime Minister, his old rival Kornilov as a ceremonial President and Mikhail Tereshchenko as Foreign Minister. The Duma Committee that was formed to debate the changes entrenched these position in law several weeks later and it continues to form the basis of today’s constitution.
With his position secure, Trotsky went about establishing a genuine party system. A general election the following year - whilst far from ‘free’ or ‘fair’ in the Western European sense, brought a renewed sense of popular support for the new government, whilst the expulsion of the more ‘eccentric’ right-wingers from the mainstream conservative party allowed the remnants of the ultranationalist movement to be contained in their own party, where they were allowed to talk about the ‘Elders of Zion’, safe in the knowledge that they would be unlikely to make much headway about it.
Despite his somewhat damascene conversion in the direction of social democracy,Trotsky remained rather authoritarian at heart. His internationalism had given way to a Wrangelite belief in a “Greater Russia” and a need to consolidate power within his own country. Whilst his own heritage and the aftermath of the Denikin Putch left him incapable of oppressing and imprisoning Jews, he was able to oppress and imprison Muslims, who soon found themselves at the receiving end of limitations on their freedom of religion, diet and movement as recompense for their alleged ‘inaction’ during the Pacific War. A great number fled into Turkestan, whilst the luckier ones went further, heading into the Republic of Anatolia, or even the Levant Federation.
Despite these dictatorial leanings, Trotsky did little to resurrect the cult of personality that had surrounded his long-serving predecessor. True too, he helped to bring about a resurgence in Russian culture and heritage, which had stagnated under Wrangel’s heavy-handed censorship. Free-minded Newspapers and independent magazines slowly began to return to the streets of the major cities (though they failed to penetrate the still-largely illiterate countryside) and the government even sent representatives to the opening night of Shostakovich’s Tsar Ivan and the Horsemen as supporters, rather than as shadowy figures in the wings.
Had Trotsky lived longer, it is entirely possible that his “Renewal of Arts and Speech” would have cemented his reputation as a successful and liberally-minded reformer. However, it was not to be. Already well over seventy when he became Prime Minister, the pressures of high office had a devastating impact on his health. When he was found dead at his desk on a cold morning in October 1951, he had been working on his resignation speech. To those on the far left, he remains a divisive figure, a pragmatic patriot to some, a class-traitor or sell-out to many. To this very day, the cry of ‘Trot’ can be heard yelled across university campuses at those Sabbatical offices who are alleged to have traded principle for power.
Last edited:
Ah, sweet irony...
I must say that Trotsky returning from the political dead wasn't the most anticipated development, since he didn't exactly display much political deftness when he was alive, but finding a way in via his obvious and profound administrative talent seems the most natural way of going about it. Looking forward to seeing the repercussions!
I did a genuine, out-loud 'hehehe' at the Trot joke. Marvellous stuff.
Glad you found something to do with Denikin - he's an obvious contender. I enjoyed the irony of 'bolshy' being used to describe him, coming as it does from 'Bolshevik'. Would it have gained such wide usage ITTL, I wonder?
Kornilov being President of Russia in the late forties while Trotsky is the Prime Minister who oversaw a formal party system coming into place. I really don't know what I else I expected.
Glad you found something to do with Denikin - he's an obvious contender. I enjoyed the irony of 'bolshy' being used to describe him, coming as it does from 'Bolshevik'. Would it have gained such wide usage ITTL, I wonder?
Kornilov being President of Russia in the late forties while Trotsky is the Prime Minister who oversaw a formal party system coming into place. I really don't know what I else I expected.
Thande
Donor
Heh, nice bit of allohistorical irony there. Somewhat reminds me of our discussions about how people act as though the ideological ideas of historical figures are immutable, when in reality you've got cases like if Tony Benn had died young, people on this forum would do TLs about him being a Blair-like centrist PM.
Also like the rather different meaning of 'Trot' here...
That should be 'conversion'.
Also like the rather different meaning of 'Trot' here...
That should be 'conversion'.
Hmm, so the next plot twist should be illustrated by a careful review of the LSE's student union over the last few years?
Aha, good stuff. He may have a debated history ITTL, but from our perspective he seems to have staved off disaster.
Also- will there ever be a revolutionary vanguard state? As it is, it seems that the multipolar, almost non-ideological world order of Imperial Europe has been preserved, especially without the Soviets to stir up anti-colonial trouble.
I'd ask if America would be the anti-colonial backer instead, although I'd doubt it....
EDIT: What happens to our favorite Georgian psychopath (by which I mean Stalin, not Beria)?
I'd ask if America would be the anti-colonial backer instead, although I'd doubt it....
EDIT: What happens to our favorite Georgian psychopath (by which I mean Stalin, not Beria)?
Last edited:
Russian TLIAD
Lovely work. Although I have enjoyed some of the other TLIAD chapters this is a fun one. I would like to see this Universe expanded. What is the US doing during all of this?
Lovely work. Although I have enjoyed some of the other TLIAD chapters this is a fun one. I would like to see this Universe expanded. What is the US doing during all of this?
In the past TLIADs have been followed up with Q and A's at the end, or at least given more hints. Since its a TLIAD I don't expect a fully flushed out universe.
1951-1957: Igor Stravinsky (Social Renewal)
The composer who entrenched Russian values in a parliamentary sphere
“My priorities for the renewal of Russian society are three,” Igor Stravinsky announced after he was appointed Prime Minister by President Kutepov, “renewal of spirituality, renewal of prosperity and renewal of the crown.” Although he only achieved two of these ambitions, Stravinsky’s brief, frantic Premiership is still respected by both right and left of Russia’s society, despite the fact that his idiosyncratic leadership and personal views would ultimately destroy his uneasy coalition.
Prior to being appointed to the Duma in 1936, Stravinsky had been a protege of the great composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. During the chaos of the Great War, he had mainly resided in Geneva, returning to Petrograd only after Kerensky had stabilised the government. He took up a position teaching music at the Conservatory, where he composed his famous “Kronstadt Symphony” - commemorating the vital role played by the sailors in the naval base in crushing the Bolshevik Uprising. During the ‘Intervention’ period in Eastern Europe and Turkey, Stravinsky continued to compose his radical, if conservatively-minded, arrangements - becoming a founding member of the “League of Artistic Loyalists” soon after Wrangel’s seizure of power. For the majority of the the Wrangel years, he remained outside mainstream politics, although he would accept an appointment as a “Musical Director” at the Cinescreen Department of the Ministry for Information. He continued to write his own scores throughout this period, a hobby that the traditionally-minded Wrangel tolerated - if only through pursed lips.
When Trotsky came to power shortly afterwards, Stravinsky was sensible enough to wait until the last moment before throwing his support towards him. Whilst his sympathies for Denikin were only slight, the scion of Polish nobility was ideologically closer to the General than to the former Revolutionary. It was only when the violently anti-democratic tendencies of Denikin’s uprising became clear that he chose to throw his hat in with the government, something that Trotsky never truly forgave him for.
However, loyalty, even of such a weak form, was in short-supply in the early months of Trotsky’s government and the French-speaking Stravinsky was rewarded with appointment as Ambassador to Paris. The post-war economic boom in Western Europe had already begun to turn sour when he presented his credentials to President Soustelle and he narrowly avoided being brained by a errant brick whilst walking in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the midst of the student riots. He returned to Moscow shortly after the crushing of the second commune, determined to avoid such a thing occurring in his home country. After being appointed to the Senate, he re-entered government as Minister for External Affairs.
The death of Trotsky left no obvious successor in the Duma. Although the Prime Minister had been grooming the young Iosif Grigulevich for the role, the rest of the Cabinet considered the Minister for Nationalities to be too junior. With the left-wing of the party unable to unite around a single candidate, when the telegram arrived from the Kremlin, it was Stravinsky who was summoned.
Given his cosmopolitan background, Stravinsky’s first love was always in the area of foreign affairs. He scored an early victory with the signing of the Helsinki Accords in spring 1952, when Russia formally renounced all claims to the Grand Duchy of Livonia, settled the age-old question of the Polish border after discussions with his counterpart, Stanisław Mackiewicz and also pledged not to support the Serbian forces following Belgrade’s intervention in Danubia. Shortly afterwards, he visited Tashkent in order to sign trade agreements with Turkistan and Northern China. For the first time since Wrangel’s announcement of “Closed Market Economics” - Russia was again open for general business with the wider world. After decades of promises, the average Russian citizen finally had access to consumer goods beyond vodka, rye bread and potatoes. In the South, the quiet villas and estates of Sochi were slowly replaced by high-rise hotels and casinos for the burgeoning middle-class, whilst the abolition of the internal passport system finally allowed people exiled under Wrangel (and ignored under Trosky) to return to their homelands.
For a while, Stravinsky was the most popular man in the country, but it was not to last. The end of the post-war boom brought with it high inflation which, coupled with the difficulties that the average steel worker had to actually attain to anything better, put many of the benefits of the market economy beyond those of the average family.
A more nuanced politician may have been able to survive this, but despite his Bohemian air and attire, Stravinsky was always somewhat of a snob. He shunned vodka for cognac, much preferred opera to the races and - in perhaps the worst propaganda mistake of his time in office - refused to invite the victorious Russian team to dine with him when they returned home from the World Championship in the summer of 1955. Although the still-malleable press failed to report on the matter, the matter was soon being discussed throughout the university halls and cinescreen bars of the major cities. Stravinsky was famously booed when he met President Stassen at Shchyolkovo Aerodrome the following month and despite the best efforts of the security police - graffiti (often showing the Prime Minister wearing hugely exaggerated spectacles) further undermined his diminishing image amongst the public.
In the autumn of 1957, rumblings over Stravinsky’s leadership finally fractured when Vladimir Lossky - the Minister for Church Affairs and Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod - resigned following a public quarrel over the appropriation of monastic funding. Although the issue was minor, it nevertheless resulted in a major schism (‘like Byzantium and Rome’, as some of the more hyperbolic newspapers described it) between the secular and establishmentarian wings of the Social Renewal Party. After a failed attempt to negotiate between the two factions, Stravinsky had little choice but to request a disestablishment of the Duma.
For the first time since 1917, a election where the result was genuinely unknowable was held on Russian territory. For a while, it seemed that the two warring bands of liberal and moderate conservatives would allow Kromiadi’s reactionary coalition to come through the middle. Such fears were premature.
Last edited:
1957-1963: Vladimir Nabokov (Free Democratic and Liberal)
The urbane intellectual who gave the nation a human face and brought literacy to millions
“For the first time since the Revolution, the leadership of the Russian Republic can be seen as a Limpid Stream of progress and clarity!” So spoke the new Prime Minister as his disestablishmentarian liberals won a comfortable majority at the 1957 General Election. For Vladimir Nabokov, the victory was a personal one. As the long-serving Minister for Internal Affairs, he had received wide-ranging opposition from his colleagues for his reformist attitude towards security matters, and although he was able to abolish Identity Cards for citizens in White Russia, the always-present partisan presence in the Caucasus and east of the Urals prevented him from going much further. Despite this, his belly-laugh and charm won him massive approval from the swelling ranks of the middle-class and his Social Reform (Liberty) faction (soon renamed the Free Democratic and Liberal Party) would go to become one of the dominant parties of the Russian political system, a role that it still fulfills to the present day.
Nabokov’s first love had always been literature - and it was with this in mind that he embarked on a mass campaign to bring full literacy to rural areas by the end of the 1960s. Despite Wrangel’s best efforts, the chaos of the post-revolutionary climate, not to mention the disruption caused by the Siberian War, many areas outside the major cities lacked any form of formal schooling beyond the elementary level. For the Prime Minister, this was an abject failure of policy, that prevented Russia from utilising her vast population to achieve the ranks of the Great Powers. During his visit to Frankfurt in January 1958, when he was a guest at the inauguration of Prince Albrecht of Bavaria as the first Chairman of the European Council of States, he found himself personally affronted when he was informed by the South Chinese Ambassador that the government in Chongqing now governed a more literate population than Moscow. The matter was seen as a national humiliation to the new Prime Minister, and the creation of the ‘National Education Service’ came into being a matter of months later.
The late-1950s also saw Wrangel’s long-promised ‘Prosperity in Thirty Years!’ begin to emerge. With the industrialisation of Siberia complete, the factories of Omsk, Ekaterinburg and Novonikolayevsk began to pump out the long-demanded consumer goods that had been commonplace in Europe for many years. The “White Plenty” era had begun, and Nabokov was at pains to ensure that he and his Cabinet were seen ‘buying Russian’ at every opportunity. The Fords, Rolls-Royces and Chryslers of old were replaced with the ubiquitous “Narodnii avtomobil” or “People’s Car” - officially known as the LRZ-101. Parisian-style coffee houses fell out of favour - replaced by modernised “Chai Palaces”, whilst there was even an attempt to develop a home-grown version of champagne - although the latter ended in a dismal failure when the Steppe climate proved ill-suited to viticulture. Having recovered from his earlier heart condition, the first nationwide broadcasts also began to appear with the ubiquitous presence of Yevgeny Zamyatin as the announcer of record. From Minsk to the Zeya, “We” was watched by anyone who had a cinescreen.
Nabokov also re-invested hugely in Moscow and Petrograd’s Metro Systems, begun (but not completed) during Wrangel’s “National Infrastructure Plan” of the mid-1940s. When the newly-elected President Symington visited the country shortly after the Liberals were returned as a minority government at the 1961 General Election - Nabokov was at pains to showcase the scheme, although many criticised the utilitarian architecture that predominated the new stations, as well as the unpopular (and perceived unlucky) Bend Sinister logo of the Metro System.
The sixties also brought with them the first Oil Shock of the 20th Century. The coup that overthrew the King of Egypt in the spring of 1962 brought with it a long-planned Anglo-French attempt to seize control of the Sinai and establish a formal “International Protectorate of Suez” - although successful, the plan also led to an Arab League embargo against Europe, which left Persia as the only major oil exporter in the region. The traditional conflict in Tehran between British and Russian oil companies became increasingly overt. When Peter Thorneycroft finally ordered the Indian Ocean Fleet to sail from Aden - the Shah felt minded to settle in favour of Shell and Anglo-Dutch, rather than their Russian counterparts.
The matter was a personal humiliation to the Prime Minister, who soon found himself dealing with rolling black-outs, picket-lines at oil refineries and protests from the same motorists that he had worked so hard to emancipated. Facing a vote of no confidence - he called a general election the following March. Although he lost, his period in office is fondly remembered by many. His legacy will always be one that is associated with entrenching Russia’s working (if sometimes flawed) democracy, his zeal for the rights of the individual, and his belief that everyone, regardless of their background, should have the right to read the laws and regulations of the land.
Last edited:
I'm expecting some parallels to OTL leaders but I haven't been able to really figure it out yet, and actually I like that.